Establishing a fast, efficient and reliable platform for assessing the toxicity and efficacy of therapeutic drugs and nanoparticles

Faculty Development Competitive Research Grants Program 2025-2027

The goal of this project is to establish a fast, efficient and reliable platform to evaluate the toxicity and efficacy of therapeutic drugs and nanoparticles using Drosophila neural stem cells. Live cell imaging in conjunction with biophysical measurements will be used to characterize the effect of drugs and nanoparticles on the biophysical (mitosis time, cell cycle time, cell shape and size, spindle morphology) and biomechanical (cortical stiffness, cortical tension, intracellular pressure) properties of Drosophila neuroblasts in intact brain and in primary culture environments. This proposal aims to comprehend the effects and mechanism of action of drugs or nanoparticles when they interact with neural stem cells that undergo frequent proliferation. Data from live cell imaging of intact brains with and without the glial blood-brain barrier will also shed light on how drugs and nanoparticles affect the growth of rapidly proliferating neural stem cells and their capacity to cross the blood-brain barrier. Experiments on these frequently dividing cells would allow us to quickly determine the toxicity and effectiveness of drugs and nanoparticles, as well as enable higher throughput screening.